


that's why i love you

by kaliebee



Series: Tumblr Prompts [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Diedre's a queen okay, Dirty Thoughts, F/M, First Kiss!, Trapped In Elevator, a bit ooc on reid's behalf bc i wrote this a while back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 13:37:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12772191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaliebee/pseuds/kaliebee
Summary: Dierdre's been having a shit day, but maybe after getting scared to death and trapped in an elevator over night, a certain dorky genius can make it a little better.





	that's why i love you

Dierdre is having the queen of shit days.

Spilling her coffee all over her new blouse, waking up late, flubbing an important meeting, she'd done it all. And now here she is, putting the last file of the night in the filing cabinet at a nice, early two in the morning.

Her office is silent as she allows herself to fall back into her chair, a loud groan echoing through the air. How had Dierdre gotten into this position? She thought being the communications liaison for the BAU would be perfect; she'd be able to help people without actually putting herself in harm's way. And yes, while she's accomplished that, the thirty-two year old had no idea how exhausting the job would be, emotionally and physically.

She loves her job, honestly, but one of these days she's going to freak the fuck out at the next person who asks her to file some of their paperwork for them.

Ignoring the pile of files she really should finish tonight rather than tomorrow, Dierdre swings her purse over her shoulder and strolls out of her office, locking it behind her. The bullpen looks spooky at this time of night, shadows stretching out across the room, one light just barely brightening the room.

Fucking creepy.

She quickens her pace. The distance from her office to the elevator is short, but it's long enough that she has to walk down an entire darkened hallway. Dierdre doesn't scare easily, but she also knows what all hides in the dark, so she doesn't hesitate to start jogging, no matter how much it hurts her feet.

And then she hears the footsteps start behind her.

Immediately Dierdre freezes, her heart stopping as the footsteps continue because nobody ever stays as late as her. No one, not even the Unit Chief, Aaron Hotchner. Goddammit, she is not a dumbass white girl in a horror movie, she is an Ivy League graduate. She is a bronze goddess. She is _strong_.

She is also having an epic panic attack.

Slipping her heels off her feet and tossing them to the side, she walks slowly into another hallway, ignoring her inner voice, which is screaming " _GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE YOU DUMBASS RUN RUN RUN_ ". Dierdre ducks into a doorway, peeking out around the corner. Hopefully she'll be able to get a warning if the intruder comes her way.

Turning her phone brightness all the way down, she glances down at her phone, going into contacts and bringing up Spencer Reid's number. Because christ, if she's going to be killed in the FBI headquarters, Spencer Reid is going to find her killer. And hopefully she can get a last minute love confession in before she dies.

Her finger moves like lightning towards the phone icon. She's just pressed it when-

"Dierdre?" _THEY KNOW MY NAME OH MY GOD_.

Dierdre lets out a yell, phone falling from her hand as she spins, hands out in an effort to push her killer away from her. The figure yelps, ducking out of the way and into the light of her phone screen.

Oh shit.

A second later she registers a light buzzing, her stomach sinking at the sound, but now it's too late. Right in front of her is a squatting Spencer Reid, hands held up in surrender, eyes wide with shock.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't- there's usually no one else here when I leave, I didn't think- You scared me!" Dierdre squeaks, running a hand through her curls, a flaming blush overtaking her cheeks. _I not only just tried to attack my coworker, I tried to attack my one true love._

_Fuck._

Spencer straightens, a sheepish grin slipping onto his lips. "Um, don't worry about it, Dierdre, I shouldn't have scared you like that. But… nice reflexes?"

_Kill me, please. Just strike me down, right now. No questions asked._

"Are… you okay?" He asks slowly, raising an eyebrow at Dierdre's silence.

"Yeah, yeah, of course, I'm fine, don't worry about it. Um, elevator?" She begins walking without waiting, trying to calm herself before they enter the elevator. There is no way in hell she'll allow her coworker to see exactly how shaken up she is, not when she's an Amazonian goddess, afraid of nothing.

Christ, her sister would be dying of laughter right about now.

Dierdre presses the down button roughly, staring at the crack in the two doors to keep herself from looking at Spencer. "Um… sorry again about almost hitting you."

"It's fine. I scared you, it's a normal reaction. Though, why were you in the doorway of JoAnn's office?" Spencer questions as they enter the elevator, a long, elegant finger pressing the button for the parking garage. _Since when could fingers be elegant?_

Dierdre feels her blush beginning to reappear as she looks down at the ground, biting her lip. _Wait. There's something wrong with this picture._

_Shit._

Spencer's eyes follows hers, cocking his head at the sight. "Also, where are your shoes?"

"There is… a slight possibility I thought you were-" Her voice gives out as the elevator stops with a bang, the light flickering. "No way."

An exasperated sigh leaves Spencer's lips as he rolls his eyes, already sinking to the floor. "We're the only ones left in the building, we'll have to wait until someone gets here in the morning."

Dierdre groans, rubbing her face exhaustively. "Jesus christ, today has hit epic proportions of shitty. Honestly, it's sort of ridiculous at this point."

The messy-haired beauty cocks his head. "Why's your day been so bad?"

She waves a hand nonchalantly as she sits on the ground, leaning against the wall. "Just a lot of little things adding up to one crappy day. No big deal, really."

Clearing her throat, she raises an eyebrow toward her crush. "So, why're you here so late?"

Spencer shrugs. "Just paperwork."

"So we're both lying?"

"Yep."

Dierdre exchanges a secretive smile with the man before laying her head back against the wall, letting her eyes close. She's heard all about how his mother was diagnosed with dementia, so her guess is that it has something to do with that. But it's not her place to pry, so instead she hums sleepily, says, "Sleeping is going to be hell tonight."

"Definitely. I should talk to Hotch about putting carpet in."

She giggles, opening her eyes long enough to see Spencer's proud smile before closing them again. As much as she'd like to admire the beauty that is Spencer Reid, she hasn't slept in almost twenty-four hours and it's starting to take its toll on her. "Please and thank you. That would be… magnificent."

He falls silent, seeming to notice exactly how tired she is. And while normally she would've fallen asleep in seconds, all she can think about is _Oh my god, I'm stuck in an elevator with Spencer Reid. I love him and this is actually the perfect time to tell him and oooooh my god he smells like a grape sucker- wait, that's not him- is he opening a sucker?_

Her eyes pop back open just to see Spencer slipping the sucker into his mouth.

_Oh no, I have to fall asleep before I get turned on._

Spencer's eyes meet her and he blushes, pulling the sucker out of his mouth and smiling sheepishly. _Oh god, it's glistening. His lips are already tinged purple._

_I have failed._

"Do you want one?" His voice shocks her out of her rapidly developing daydream as he holds out another grape sucker. When he grabbed that out of his bag, she's got no idea, but she takes it with a slightly breathless, "Thanks," internally wincing at her voice. Jesus, she's a wreck.

He smiles that awkward, crooked smile that made her fall in love with him in the first place before wrapping his lips around his sucker again.

Immediately she shuts her eyes, sucking on her own sucker to keep from flat out losing it at the sight. This is going to be seriously difficult if she has to deal with Spencer being delectable the entire time they're stuck here.

_~o~_

Dierdre's awoken by a loud curse around five, an hour after she finally managed to pass out on the floor. A mixture of sleep and shock slows her to the fact that Spencer Reid just hissed, "Fuck!" as she blinks blearily.

Honesty, it should surprise her to see Spencer building some sort of structure out of the various items found in his signature messenger bag, including but not limited to a tin of mints, a water bottle, a box of tampons, and a deck of cards.

Actually, the fact that he's using tampons in his building should be weirder, yet it doesn't phase her in the slightest. All she can think about is how not only is it too early to deal with whatever's going on in that genius brain of his, but she also loves him more than he'll ever know.

And in her sleep deprived state, all bets are off, so she turns over, flashes the overly attractive agent a sleepy smile, and mutters, "You're such a dork, that's why I love you."

The last thing she sees before falling back asleep is the structure collapsing.

_~o~_

" **I'm out the H-town coming coming down, I'm coming down, drippin' candy on the ground-** "

Dierdre startles awake as her phone begins to blare music, arms flailing and hitting the wall. "Ow!"

Seconds later Spencer follows suit, sitting up so fast he almost rams head-first into the elevator doors. "What the-?"

"Goddammit, it's my alarm," Dierdre says over Queen B's voice as she shuffles through her purse, searching for her phone.

" **I know when you were little girls, you dreamt of being in my world-** " The music cuts off as she finally stops her alarm, sighing in relief when ***Flawless stops echoing in the elevator.

Spencer stares at her a moment, sleepy confusion written across his face. The way his forehead wrinkles when he squints at her is strangely adorable. And then he's asking, "Do you… do you remember waking up an hour or so ago?" and her stomach sinks.

" _You're such a dork, and that's why I love you._ "

Oh no.

Oh god no.

"Oh."

NO.

She didn't.

Dear lord god above, please, she couldn't have.

"Um."

Shit.

_Shit._

"Uh."

Spencer blinks, eyes crinkling a bit at the corners in that completely adorable way that made Dierdre want to melt every time. "You do, don't you."

Oh no, that wasn't a question. _Nonono, he's going to hate me now and think I'm weird because he doesn't like me and I'm going to have to completely avoid him for the rest of my life and I CAN'T EVEN DO THAT SINCE WE WORK TOGETHER GOD-_

Soft.

God, so soft.

His hand cups the back of her neck as he pulls her closer, lips pressed lightly against hers, other hand on her knee.

Holy fuck _yES_.

Dierdre doesn't hesitate to push off the wall, moving closer until their knees touch, kissing heatedly the entire time. Fingers pulling at her hair, nails scratching at his chest gently, tongues sliding against each other's. It's bliss like she's never felt before. Finally they're forced apart by her need for air, foreheads touching as she gasps. "Oh my god."

"Was that okay?" Spencer almost sounds nervous, like there's even the slightest possibility he messed up. Laughable.

"You were… god, please do that again at some point."

He chuckles lowly as he finally pulls back, running a hand through his hair. Hot. "So, um… did you mean it? Earlier? When you said you loved me?"

Her cheeks flush as she nods slowly, looking up at him under her eyelashes nervously. "Possibly?"

A sweet smile break across his lips. "I love you too, then."

"Oh thank god, I would've died if you said otherwise."

"Did you know there's actually a disease called Broken Heart Syndrome? It mimics symptoms-"

"Of a heart attack? Yeah, I know. I did a paper on it for one of my biology classes back at university."

Spencer presses a hand against his heart, smiling teasingly. "A girl after my own heart."

Dierdre rolls her eyes, ignoring the tingle shooting up her spine at his words. "Obviously. Now if you could kiss me again?"

And so he does, and she does, and she does, and she does, and he does, and on they continue for the next hour, having conversations between each kiss until finally the elevator begins to move and they have to hurriedly make themselves look at least somewhat presentable. When the doors open, Aaron Hotchner stands on the other side, along with an elevator mechanic, eyebrow raised. "What're you guys doing?" Dierdre clears her throat, fidgeting with the hem of her top. "The elevator broke with us in it."

"How come neither of you called anyone for help?"

They glance at each other, jaws dropping simultaneously as the realization hits the both of them.

" _Are you kidding me?_ "


End file.
